Awesome Microsoft

Microsoft and other Windows-based laptop makers are following Apple’s lead. The Surface Laptop 7th Edition is powered by the new Snapdragon X all-in-one ARM chip. Disregard all the AI gimmicks: for now, all you have to know is that it should be just as powerful but significantly more power-efficient than laptops running Intel or AMD’s x86-based CPUs.

Engineers from Microsoft Research Asia are showing off VASA-1 an AI technology that can take a single photo and text input and produces a photorealistic talking head animation. Controls allow the user to adjust things like emotion, gaze direction, and head size. The intent is to generate lifelike virtual avatars, and not for impersonating real people.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBox X-Pants! Microsoft’s game console is the ideal canvas for SpongeBob’s boxy yellow body. The special $699 bundle comes with a colorful cartoon character controller and the game Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 packed in. Grab one starting 3.7.2024 via Best Buy Drops on the Best Buy Mobile App.

Lots of us think that current-gen Xbox consoles look like appliances. After launching the Series X mini-fridge, Microsoft has licensed Ukonic to make an official Xbox Series S toaster. The boxy 2-slice toaster looks just like the game system, has an extra-long, wide slot that works for bagels, and burns an Xbox logo graphic into your bread.

Back in the 1990s, Microsoft dropped its first virtual assistant onto PCs with Clippy, a talking paperclip designed to help guide us in the use of our computers. Instead, Clippy was annoying, and most of us looked for a quick way to disable the feature. Great Big Story sat down for a few minutes with illustrator Kevan Atteberry, the man who designed the character.

Here’s a great way to get Microsoft Office 2021 for your Mac without subscription fees. This deal from The Awesomer Shop includes an instant download and license key for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote – a full suite of productivity software.

The Xbox 360 had one of the best game controllers ever. Hyperkin is readying a new version that’s compatible with the Xbox Series X/S and Windows 10 and 11 devices. It’s very similar to the original, with the addition of Menu, View, and Share buttons, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack and detachable USB-C cable.

We just checked out what is likely the smallest working PS5 console. We now have the opposite – a gargantuan Xbox Series X that’s nearly 7 feet tall. Michael Pick teamed up with ZHC to build and decorate this beast, and yes, it plays games. It’s since been donated to the YMCA Youth and Teen Development Center in Atlanta, GA.

CheatKard is back with another series of useful and visually-appealing reference cards. These ones are focused on computer software, including Adobe, Microsoft, and Apple apps, plus the complexities of Regular Expressions. Each one is made from a flexible fiber composite with real gold plated accents.

“My spreadsheet doesn’t do that!” This 1992 promo spot for Microsoft Excel 4.0 seems like it was directed and performed by a team that wished they were doing more meaningful work. Instead, they ended up pimping the ubiquitous productivity software with a level of gravitas typically reserved for serious TV dramas.

We recently were reminded how painful it was to get on the Internet in the 1990s. Installing software on a computer without a CD-ROM drive was even more of a chore. Tech Tangents walks us through the slow but somewhat meditative task of installing Microsoft Office 97 from its 46 floppy disks onto a Gateway 2000 laptop.

Boss around spreadsheets, charts, and databases with this 12-part course in Microsoft Excel. You’ll learn to master PivotTables, Power Queries, build advanced formulas, and complex logic using Visual Basic for Applications. Another great e-learning deal from The Awesomer Shop.

They say tragedy + time = comedy, so perhaps those of us who experienced the Xbox 360’s Red Ring of Death are ready to laugh it off. At least that’s what Microsoft hopes with their print of the light pattern no gamer ever wanted to see. It’s one of seven prints celebrating the docu-series Power On: The Story of Xbox.

Microsoft replaces its Surface Book with a new design that combines the best of tablets and laptops. Rather than a removable display, its touchscreen pulls forward over the keyboard in studio mode. It packs an 11th-gen Core i5 or Core i7 CPU with an Intel Iris Xe or Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU and a 14.4″ 201 PPI 120Hz display.

Microsoft is ready to delight racing game fans with the latest installment of the Forza Horizon series. Take a look at the game’s gorgeous environments and buttery-smooth frame rates, as racers including a Ford Bronco, a C8 Corvette, a classic Porsche 911, and a Mercedes-AMG ONE each make a dramatic entrance.

With an amazing amount of graphical detail and real-world map data, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is closer than ever to recreating the experience of flight. Digital pilot TheNinjaCowboy shared this video footage of some of their favorite locations from the game, looking out from the pilot’s window and above their single-engine plane.